Back in October I was over at Dear Author with a review of Into the Storm by Rachel Grant. Suspenseful and action-packed with a whirlwind romance, but part of the hero’s backstory bothered me.
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Monthly Mini Review
A Thief in the Night by KJ Charles – B+ At just under 3 hours of listening time, this little delight was easy to squeeze into my listening schedule. Those of us who’ve read or listened to The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting may remember that siblings Marianne and Robin were missing a brother – Toby. He’d left home suddenly some years before after a falling out with their father and, while they understood why he’d left, they missed him and wondered what happened to him. We listeners need wonder no more as here he is.
Toby isn’t so much a thief as someone who steals things when “needs must”. He’s happy to work for a living but it’s not always easy to find work and there have been times where he’s stolen or sold himself to survive. While his preference would be not to do either of those things I got the sense that he doesn’t let what he has to do sometimes get him down too much. As the novella begins, Toby meets a handsome aristocratic man in a tavern. They have an enjoyable encounter in the dark and Toby has real regret when he later steals Miles’ watch and pocketbook – but, needs must.
Miles has just returned from the war and is on his way home. He had been estranged from his own father and had hoped they could reconcile but he’s found out he’s a week too late – his father suddenly passed away. When Miles, now the Earl of Arvon, does make it home, he finds a house in terrible disarray. The land has been sold off, there’s only one horse and the house is full of junk – his father was a hoarder of sorts. Continue reading
Heartbreaker by Sarah MacLean, narrated by Mary Jane Wells. Great narration and a cracking story.
When I heard that Heartbreaker was a road trip book where the love interests were together for most of the story and that Mary Jane Wells was narrating, I knew this would be a good first Sarah MacLean historical for me to try. Until now I’ve only listened to one other MacLean – a novella length contemporary – A Duke Worth Falling For – which I reviewed here as well. I was not disappointed.
Heartbreaker is the second book in the Hell’s Belles series but it stands alone well. I didn’t have any trouble following the story at all and there were precious few spoilers for the prior book too, for extra bonus points.
Adelaide Frampton (aka Addie Trumbull) grew up in Lambeth, the daughter of the leader of the local gang, the Bulls. That didn’t make her protected or pampered. Instead, she was required to earn her keep by picking pockets and she became a most excellent “South Bank nipper”. After she’s grown up, her father, Alfie Trumbull, arranges to give her in marriage to the leader of a rival gang – the Boys – in order to unite the two groups. Adelaide isn’t keen on the match but doesn’t have much choice. However, at the wedding ceremony it’s clear that a takeover is planned – by her would-be-husband over Alfie’s gang or vice versa – and in the violent fracas (which ends with Alfie the victor and king of the merged “Bully Boys”) she is offered an escape by a mysterious woman.
That woman is Duchess of Trevescan, the leader of what will become the Hell’s Belles.
Five years later, when the main action of the book begins, Adelaide is well established in London society as a distant relative of the duchess and is close with her and the other Belles – Imogen and Sesily. The women have a powerful network of informants and helpers all over England, their goal to take down powerful men who, without their interference, would face no consequences for their terrible actions.
In Sarah MacLean’s Victorian England, a group of overtly feminist women are kicking arse and taking names. It’s fun to read about and obviously influenced by modern (and current) sensibilities. Heartbreaker is not designed and doesn’t promise to be truly authentic to the period.
The Belles’ network includes some rather improbable conveniences but it worked for the story and I was having a good time so it didn’t bother me other than that I noticed them.
Adelaide and the Belles are involved in a plan to take down the Marquess of Havistock, an evil man who makes money from child labour (something quite legal at the time, the story notes) and who has various other nefarious activities. His daughter, Helene, witnessed her father murder another peer and if the Belles can protect Helene long enough to bring the matter before the law, this time, Havistock is going down.
Helene however, has other plans, which put the Belle’s to scrambling. She is in love with Jack Carrington, the younger brother of the Duke of Clayborn. Rather than hide at the Duchess of Trevescan’s house, she and her beloved elope to Gretna. Hired by Havistock, members of the Bully Boys are following. If they’re caught, Helene’s life is forfeit and probably Jack’s too and Havistock will likely get away with it all.
Adelaide follows to ensure Helene and Jack’s safety but on the pretence of stopping the match (her alter ego being “the Matchbreaker”). The duke follows to stop Adelaide from stopping the wedding – he knows nothing of the Belle’s plans for Havistock and the other context around the pursuit – so as to ensure his younger brother’s happiness.
Thus the promised road trip begins, with Adelaide and Clayborn sparring (verbally) and trying their best to one-up the other. Mostly it is Adelaide who is the victor.
As it happens, Clayborn has had his eye on Adelaide for the past couple of years. He thinks she’s beautiful and clever. He’s even noticed her nimble fingers picking ton pockets a time or two and that hasn’t put him off. Adelaide for her part, admires Clayborn’s staunch advocacy in the House of Lords to end child labour but thinks him rude personally as a result of some interactions they’ve had on social occasions. (Of course, Clayborn had his reasons.)
Over the course of their journey, their latent attraction comes to the fore but a HEA for them seems impossible. Adelaide is the daughter of a criminal – indeed she is one herself. She still picks pockets (only for good, not evil these days). The duke has his own secret which led him to vow never to marry but even leaving that aside, he’s a duke.
However, in this universe there is a way for them to be together and over the course of their whirlwind romance (about 10 days I think) the barriers are brought out, considered, strategized upon and, eventually surmounted. It is, after all, a romance novel.
Mary Jane Wells is a favourite narrator (I have a lot of them, it’s true – I contain multitudes) and I knew I was in safe hands with her. As expected, she gave a very enjoyable performance, with good accent work, character voices, emotion and pacing. I had some mixed feelings about the character voice she gave Adelaide. Clearly, Ms. Wells wanted to make each of the Belle’s distinct. This left Adelaide with a bit of a wobble in her voice – the kind I associate with difficult spinsters from Jane Austen movie adaptations – so it took me a little while to get into the groove with it. However, Adelaide herself won me over and by about a third into the book I just accepted the voice as “her”. On the other hand, Ms. Wells’ tones for Clayborn, while familiar, were very very good.
There were a few occasions where Clayborn’s voice was used when it should have been Adelaide’s or vice versa and there was one time where there was a clear error but I don’t know whether it was the text or the narration. Otherwise however, Mary Jane Wells delivered a great performance and remains high on my list of favourite narrators of historical romance.
I’m very much looking forward to Imogen’s book which I think must be next. I believe she will be giving a certain police officer from Scotland Yard continued indigestion and it promises to be glorious. I can’t help but wonder if the mysterious Duke of Trevescan may turn up in book four?
Heartbreaker was a lot of fun. I think I need to check out book one, Bombshell, soon.
Grade: A
I’m over at Dear Author with a review of Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy. A bit of a mixed bag.
Monthly Mini Review
Nightwork by Nora Roberts, narrated by Will Damron – A- I wrote a thread on Twitter about my reaction to this book. I’ve reproduced the tweets below rather than just providing screenshots so it’s accessible to anyone.
I just finished Nightwork by Nora Roberts. 5 stars. Excellent on audio (although I though Will Damron’s accents slipped here – I wasn’t always convinced by his French accent – the narration really was fantastic ). 1/?
The main character is an art/jewel thief. Here I think La Nora taps into the zeitgeist. Booth starts stealing at age 9 because his mother has cancer, can’t work & they can’t pay their regular bills or their medical bills. Very relatable in the US context. 2/?
He starts off picking pockets but then graduates to B&E by age 12. He’s never violent, doesn’t carry a weapon & doesn’t take everything. Just what he came for. Of course at this point he’s stealing from the very rich. 3/?
Some of his thievery is from people who’ve stolen the art or jewels themselves. He becomes, in some ways, a modern day Robin Hood (except not so much of the giving to the poor – he does public service instead by being a (very good) public high school teacher). 4/?
The villain is a Very Bad Guy. He is violent, filthy rich, arrogant, entitled. (Sound familiar?) And he threatens Booth into stealing things for him. In the words of Elvis, Booth is caught in a trap. 5/?
What’s additionally interesting is that law enforcement are barely a presence in the story and Booth runs rings around those that do appear. Zeitgeist. 6/? Continue reading
In His Protection by Sandra Owens, narrated by Patrick Zeller. Enjoyable romantic suspense (mostly romance) and great narration but would have liked more of the dog!
I’ve enjoyed romantic suspense by Sandra Owens before and I love dogs so In His Protection caught my eye when it popped up at Audible. Unfortunately, there’s not quite enough of the dog – Fuzz – as I’d have liked. He does have a couple of pivotal scenes but the story is not very much about him.
Tristan Church is the chief of police in Marsville, North Carolina. The county sheriff is Skylar Morgan. (I admit I don’t understand why such a small area has two separate police forces but I’ve seen it in other books so I guess it’s a thing in the US, or at least some parts of it.) When Sky came to town to interview for the job, she met Tristan in a bar and they had a hot and steamy night together – first names only (her rule). Tristan was deeply smitten from the jump but when Sky returned to Marsville and realised who they were in relation to one another professionally, she pretended they’d never met and gave him the cold shoulder. Tristan has been trying to get her attention for a year.
Sky left Florida where she held a Chief Deputy position after a bad break up with a fellow cop. That man bad-mouthed her to her colleagues and started rumours she was dirty. She faced an investigation (she was cleared of any wrongdoing – she was actually innocent) and her reputation was severely damaged. She wanted a clean start but vowed not to date another cop. And what is Tristan? Argh.
However, the attraction between them won’t go away and when they are teamed up to plan the reopening of the Marsville UFO Museum (yes, that’s why it’s called Marsville), they’re forced into one another’s company even more and Sky’s fragile shield against his charm fails.
At around the same time, her ex turns up in town and someone burns down her apartment. Plus, there’s a deputy in the county sheriff’s department who has it in for her as well and after she fires him he makes threats against her. So there is a plethora of potential suspects available. It’s soon clear that someone is after something from Sky and won’t stop until they get it. This is where my biggest bone to pick with the story arises. Sky is an experienced and accomplished law enforcement officer. When Tristan asks her not to go anywhere alone it’s only because she’s a woman. There’s just no way he’d have made the same request had Sky been a dude. And, Sky went along with it rather than calling it out as the gendered BS it was! *frowny face*
The author does turn some things around though and Sky does get to do some heroics – just not without some Special Forces officers to help. Male of course. (Tristan’s brother Kade is a Ranger. He has another brother, Parker, who is the fire chief and a talented artist.)
The problem with the plot is that for Tristan to be protective of Sky and do any rescuing (and really, rescuing is one of my very favourite things in romance!) because she’s as talented and experienced as she is, it only serves to diminish her. Not entirely and not always a lot – but enough that I noticed and it grated a little.
The push/pull of the relationship is Sky’s reluctance to get in a relationship where, if it all went wrong, she’d have to leave town and start all over again AGAIN. This a real risk for her. Tristan does not think the town would turn on Sky if they broke up but he’s 100% all in anyway and wants her to be his forever. I do like a man in pursuit romantically (and respectfully) speaking. There again, sometimes Tristan made choices to withhold information from Sky that may have spooked her relationship-wise but which she had a right to know professionally so that was a minus in his column. It wasn’t egregious though and, lucky for him, it wasn’t anything that put her at risk.
That said, Tristan also overtly recognised that she needed to stand on her own with her deputies and not interfere with her work and he did treat her with due professional respect most of the time.
The narration was really good. It’s been ages since I’ve listened to Patrick Zeller and I had to ask myself why that was. He has a great range of character voices – from Parker’s 5-year-old daughter, Everly, to the old town matriarch, Ms. Mabel Mackle, to different tones for each Church brother and beyond. His pacing and tone are great and I really liked the emotion he brought to the performance as well. Not overdone; just right.
I’m sure I enjoyed In His Protection more on audio than I would have in print because of the narration. Some of the things which bothered me about the story were easier to manage with Mr. Zeller in my ears. In fact, I liked his performance so much, I immediately went and bought another Owens/Zeller audio collaboration.
Some of the suspense plot stretched my credulity to the breaking level but I enjoyed the romance and I liked Sky and Tristan (most of the time) and I liked them together.
Grade: B-
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